Economics

Preparing for a Foreign Animal Disease: An overview of the Secure Pork Supply Plan Dr. Dave Wright, Wright Veterinary Services, shared the Secure Pork Supply story for producers to really internalize. Dr. Wright emphasized that being prepared through practices and education is key. One starting point is to get a National Premises Identification Number [video].

Market Outlook From The MN Pork Congress Dr. Steve Meyer, Economist, Kerns & Associates, gets to the point with the current state of the markets in the USA and compares them to the other protein options. Dr. Meyer pointed out that new processing plants coming on line are not yet up to capacity plus emphasized the impacts that policy level decisions may have on the 2018 economy, and specific impacts to pork [video].

Pork Export Outlook Dr. Dermot J. Hayes, Professor of Economics, Iowa State University, provides global insight on the imports and exports of pork. He highlights the major players and where China is getting their pork besides the USA. On the subject of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Dr. Hayes said pulling out of this agreement would be disastrous for US pork producers [video].

Cooperation, Competition, and Coopetition Dr. Rebecca Liu, Management School, Lancaster University, shares thoughts on how competitors can advance together in a co-opetition model. Dr. Liu offers several case studies to help understand the idea that one plus one can be greater than two in a cooperatively competitive swine business world [video].

Export Markets Dr. Steve Meyer, Pork Analysis, Express Markets, Inc., provides an update on pork export markets and summarizes the current issues in the financial markets. From the 2017 Midwest Pork Conference, December 5, 2017, in Danville, Indiana, USA, Dr. Meyer takes questions on NAFTA's future, emphasizing some of the short term impacts and possible consequences.

One interesting point about a possible NAFTA change is that Mexico would continue to buy pork from the US in the short term but would pay a lower price. Longer term, Mexico would line up new suppliers, one of which would be Canada [video].